NPP leadership tasked to reconcile and embrace defectors

Some leading members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Brong-Ahafo Region on Wednesday, called on the Party leadership to reconcile and bring back discontented supporters and defectors to secure landslide victory in 2020.

According to them, the Party leadership at all levels must endeavour and be in the position to welcome and embrace disgruntled supporters who in one way or the other left the Party in Election 2016 due to certain misunderstandings and disagreements.

They expressed the fear that if the intra-party divisions within the NPP were not settled, such divisions had the potential to cause the Party to lose significant votes and affect its chances in Election 2020.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the leading members noted that all was not well for the NPP, as it braced itself for Election 2020 because there was still lack of unity within the Party, which was likely to be more damaging, as it involved high profile Party personalities.

Mr. Stephen Owusu Afriyie, the Asutifi North Chairman of the NPP said he was unhappy that the NPP could not settle some disagreements between and among some high-ranking members of the Party across the length and breadth of the country.

These misunderstandings among members and supporters, he observed nearly affected the chances of the Party negatively in that election.

“As the Party braces itself for the 2020 general election, there is the need for the leadership to forget the past and recall particularly those who contested the various parliamentary seats independently.

“The independent candidates who left our great Party went away with several supporters and followers and it is better the Party focuses on how best to bring them back if we yearn to win the 2020 elections”, Mr. Afriyie added.

He advised the newly-elected Constituency executives to engage and bring on board candidates who contested and lost in the Constituency primaries to join the electioneering and play their parts towards a total victory.

Mr. Richard Kwadwo Adu, a former Wenchi Constituency Youth Organiser of the NPP reminded that the NPP was not a political party for certain social class of people, but a mass movement that respected and cherished the views and aspirations of all supporters.

He said if certain misunderstandings among supporters and members remained unsettled it could be manifested into something else that could affect the electoral performance of the Party in 2020.

He indicated that a political party would remain stronger if it maintained and built on its numerical strength, and appealed to the NPP to embrace all “returnees” and engage them actively in the campaign.

Mr. Frank Opoku-Adjapong, a founding member of the NPP in the Sunyani East Constituency observed that intra-party divisions were dangerous, saying if Party disputes remained unsettled, it could inflict electoral damages, and cause serious negativities on them.

He explained that internal wrangling, jealousy, and all divisive tendencies would not augur well for the NPP as it would undermine the Party’s unity and consequently slow down its growth and development.

Mr Opoku-Adjapong advised the Party supporters and sympathizers to avoid complacency and intensify campaign to sell the achievements of the government to people and eligible voters at the grassroots to enable them understand the ideologies of the NPP to retain it in 2020.

He indicated that the constituencies remained the pillars of the NPP and was hopeful that the leadership would strengthen the constituencies to embark on vigorous campaigns.

Mr. Michael Osei Boateng, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Youth Organiser of the NPP, said the fortunes of the Party in Election 2020 was bright because Ghanaians had understood that it was only the NPP government that could push-forward national development.

He added his voice to the calls on the Party supporters and members to forget about the past and build a formidable Party.

Mr. Boateng who is also the Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) said with the implementation of the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo), Planting for Food and Jobs (PfFJs) and free Senior High School programme, the government had won the confidence of majority of Ghanaian voters.